


this may have not been a high point for us

by snufflyphoenix



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, but they need to actually talk to each other, in other words i love them, these babes give me a headache sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7498584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snufflyphoenix/pseuds/snufflyphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Roland. Roland. Roland. Sex."</p>
<p>Lilith is trying to distract Roland from leading the rebellion in her own way. Roland isn't having any of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this may have not been a high point for us

**Author's Note:**

> Based off an in game conversation between Lilith and Roland then elaborated on, so the first couple of lines of dialogue are taken directly from the game.

“Roland. Roland. Roland. Sex.”

Roland clenched his jaw briefly, looking steadfastly at the computer screen as he tried to ignore Lilith. “Please stop it.” He said tersely, refusing to look at her. She’d been attempting to sidetrack him for about an hour, and he would not give her the satisfaction of winning.

“I don’t wanna distract you or anything, but just -- you know. Keep it in mind, that’s all.” Lilith’s smug grin was audible in her speech as she leant back against the desk that he was working at.

Deep breath, Roland, he reminded himself as he turned to her with a frown. “Stop.” He said more firmly, giving her a disapproving look.

“Come on, man.” Her grin only got wider as she nudged his arm with her hip. “I’ll be gentle.” 

He shook his head slightly and turned back to his work. “No, you won’t.” 

“No, I won’t.” 

Roland could tell from her tone of voice that she was having a whale of a time. Did she not remember that they hadn’t been dating for, well.. over a year at this point? Or did she not care? Knowing Lilith, that was a very real possibility. Having sex with an ex who she worked with definitely sounded like something she would think was a good idea. 

“Lilith, please. I don’t want to ask you again. Stop.. harassing me. I don’t want to have sex with you. We both know why that would be a bad idea, and we both have work to do.” So maybe the last part came out a bit pointed. It wouldn’t hurt her to remember that they had things to be attending to, namely Handsome Jack and Hyperion. Not her apparently currently hyperactive libido.

A flash of irritation crossed Lilith’s face and she crossed her arms, trying to appear nonchalant. “I’m hardly harassing you, dude, I just thought you could do with a bit of relaxation. I’ve not seen you do anything that wasn’t work related in ages, thought we could help each other out.” 

“You could help me out by doing your work.” He turned to her, so he knew she could see his displeased expression. “Do you think this whole thing is a game? Because it’s starting to seem that way.” 

“How exactly am I treating this like a game?” Okay, now she looked pissed. “I just asked if you wanted to have sex, why am I suddenly not doing my job properly? I’ve spent the last year ass deep in bandits, to keep Sanctuary safe, almost totally isolated because it was the best option for the safety of the people here. I’ve faked my own death because of what Jack would do if he knew I was alive. But please, tell me again that I don’t take my job seriously.”

Roland closed his eyes briefly before looking back at her, his expression stony. “Lilith. You have spent an hour trying to get my attention and there is a pile of paperwork on the desk next to me that I’ve asked you to attend to. No, scratch that, you’ve spent an hour preening and propositioning me, despite me telling you multiple times I am not interested, and ignoring your share of the work. So not only are you not doing anything productive, but you’ve also paid no heed to the fact that you’re making me very uncomfortable. So the only conclusion I have been able to come to is that you think all of this is a joke. So, please, for the final time. Stop it and help me, or you can go and bother somebody else.”

Lilith’s expression was clearly one of anger, and her yellow eyes glowed as she set her jaw. “Fine,” she said shortly as she pushed herself up off the desk she had been leaning on, turning her back to him as she walked out the room. “I’ll go and see if Moxxi’s around. She’s not so fucking stuck up.”

Roland sighed heavily, turning back to his computer. Of course she wouldn’t stay and act like a sensible adult. That would be far too challenging for her. At least she wouldn’t pester him for a while, he thought to himself. He glanced at the stack of papers he had assigned her, already starting to feel a migraine coming on. They, unfortunately, wouldn’t file themselves, and Lilith certainly wasn't going to do them. There went his idea of getting more than 4 hours sleep tonight. Wishful thinking, he supposed, as he set to work. 

__________________

Roland started awake at the sound of the door being slammed shut, blinking rapidly as he adjusted to being awake so suddenly.

“Fall asleep at your desk again?” 

Lilith’s voice came from the doorway and Roland frowned in it’s general area, rubbing his hand across his face. “No thanks to you.” He said, his voice was rough from sleep. He sat up straighter from where he had slouched in his chair, stretching his back. 

“Oh, so this is my fault too?” Lilith shook her head, shrugging what was left of her body-warmer off.

“If you’d done your paperwork, I would be in bed right now.” Roland said, his voice tired. He wasn't going to fight with her about this - he'd just woken up - but he also didn't want her to think she'd gotten off scot free. 

Lilith paused in removing her armour and boots, sat on a chair on the other side of the room. “...sorry.” She said, after a pause, sounding somewhat apologetic. 

“Yeah, well.” Roland said shortly, before sighing, deciding to just leave it alone. He would bring up her slack attitude towards paperwork when he was mildly more conscious, he didn't have the energy right now. There was another pause. “How was Moxxi’s?” 

“Well, she sent her love.” Lilith said with a slight smile, stretching her feet out in front of her. She set them back on the ground, rested her hands on her knees and looked at the floor, before looking over to Roland. “...she also said I was being a dick to you and that I should apologise.” 

Well, that was new. “...and what did you say to that?”

“I told her to fuck off.” 

Roland huffed slightly, shaking his head as he looked away from her. Of course. Lilith rarely apologised, it would have been naive to expect her to for what she obviously considered to be such a minor slight.

“And then I came back to apologise for being a dick.” She said quietly, still looking at him.

“You-...” Roland paused, frowning as he turned back to her. “Sorry, what?”

Lilith pulled a face at him before softening slightly. “You heard - I’m sorry. I… should have listened when you said you didn’t want to, and I shouldn’t have pushed it. So… yeah.” She trailed off slightly awkwardly, bringing a knee up to wrap her arms around. 

Roland was quiet for a moment, absorbing what she said before speaking. “Thank you for apologising. I just still don’t understand why you thought it was appropriate.”

“I was trying to look for an excuse to talk to you.” Lilith admitted, suddenly becoming very interested in her foot in an attempt to avoid looking at him.

“So talk to me.” Roland said, mildly exasperated. They’d known each other for 6 years, surely she knew she could just start a conversation with him? They’d been through rough patches of minimal communication, but he had thought that they were better at that now, and that they had moved forwards. 

“You’re always doing something more important. I can hardly interrupt you when you’re saving the planet.” She looked up at him and smiled slightly, shrugging a shoulder. “I figured this might be a good way to drag you away for a bit. … I miss you, dude.”

Roland didn’t really know what to say to that. Of course, he missed her too. He’d missed all of them. After he’d effectively banished Brick and Lilith had left to try to tackle the bandit problem, he and Mordecai had been on their own in Sanctuary, and the absence of the other two had been sorely felt. Mordecai, of course, had Bloodwing and she kept him company when they were out on reconnaissance missions, but in the periods of often many weeks to several months when Mordecai was away, Roland had really noticed how lonely it became without his best friends. While he knew he wasn’t the most talkative companion, having no one to just have a chat with became a struggle and so he had turned himself to his role as leader and to saving Pandora. 

Having something to focus on had distracted him so thoroughly that when new Vault Hunters emerged and his friends started coming back, he found he no longer really knew what to say to them. The conversation that had once been easy was now awkward, most of all with Lilith. They had such a history, it was difficult to know where to start.

“I… you were away too long.” Roland said eventually, giving her a small smile. “It was never the same without you setting fire to things to keep us on our toes.”

Lilith laughed, hugging her knee a little tighter. She knew she had been away too long. Solitude didn’t suit her - that was why she’d sent so many Echo messages to him while she’d been out in Frostburn Canyon and why she’d thought decorating her place there with corpses was a good idea. Isolation didn’t do great things to her. “...I did think about coming back. Lots of times. But I needed space, and it was the only way I could think of to get it.”

“Liquefying bandits?” Roland raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, why not.” She smirked slightly at him, and relaxed into her chair. “I didn’t say it was a good idea.”

“But surely your ideas are renowned as good ones across Pandora.” He couldn’t help teasing her a little. Lilith’s plans were famously haphazard and involved very little actual planning. 

“I’ll light that entire pile of papers on fire.” Lilith said, almost deadpan, but the smirk that still lingered gave her away. 

“And I’ll have you write the entire pile out again by hand.” Roland responded easily, smiling again. He stood and stretched, covering a yawn, before going to walk through to the dorm room. He paused by her chair, and dropped a light kiss to the top of her head. “...it’s good to have you back, Lily.”

Lilith flushed bright red as he continued into the next room. “Thanks, Ro.” 

The proceeding laugh at the old nickname made her heart skip, just like it used to, and she drew her arms around herself as she sank into her chair. Oh, but fuck, she was gone on him. He’d kissed her on top of her head and she’d gone as red as her hair. This was ridiculous, she reasoned, she was a grown woman, she could-- Her thoughts stopped in their tracks as she noticed a flickering out the corner of her eye.  
“Shit.” Lilith darted up, rushing over to the desk Roland had just vacated, extinguishing the flames that were lapping at the papers he’d spent hours organising that her happy surprise had now caused to catch fire.

Roland, now in his t-shirt after having removed his jumper to sleep, appeared in the doorway with an exasperated expression on his face. “Lilith, for fucks sake, really?” 

Looking sheepish next to the now smouldering pile of papers, Lilith grinned weakly. “I’ll make it up to you?” 

Oh, no, he knew that grin, they’d just talked about that grin, and what that grin meant. He sounded frustrated when he spoke, his frown deepening. “Lilith, I don’t want--”

“I’ll redo all the paperwork?” 

Roland’s face split into a relieved smile and he ran a hand over the top of his head. “That sounds perfect. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Ro.” She grinned at him, plonking herself down in the desk chair.

Roland shook his head and turned back around to go and get some actual sleep, still smiling to himself. This was good, he thought. He and Lilith could be good again. And he would ignore the little flutter in his stomach that had happened at the sight of her grin, and she would pretend that the top of her head didn’t still tingle where he’d kissed her, and things would go back to how they were. They would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> So I love these babes and they love each other and they need to talk about their feelings with a mug of hot cocoa and cuddle.


End file.
